1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle mirror assembly which is provided at, for example, a door of a vehicle and a method for assembling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, as shown in FIG. 7, a conventional vehicle mirror assembly 70 has a door mirror stay 72. The door mirror stay 72 is fixed to a door of a vehicle (not shown). A stand 74A of a retracting unit 74 is fixed to the door mirror stay 72. The retracting unit 74 has a rotating portion 74B at the vehicle upward side of the stand 74A. The rotating portion 74B is rotatable with respect to the stand 74A. A bracket 76 is connected to the stand 74A. A fixing portion 78A of a mirror surface adjustment unit 78 is fixed to the bracket 76. The mirror surface adjustment unit 78 has a retaining plate 78B at the vehicle rear side of the fixing portion 78A. A mirror 80 for viewing the region substantially at the rear of a vehicle is held by the retaining plate 78B. The retaining plate 78B can be tilted with respect to the fixing portion 78A. A door mirror visor 82 is fixed to the bracket 76. The door mirror visor 82 covers the retracting unit 74, the bracket 76, the mirror surface adjustment unit 78 and the mirror 80 so as to form the appearance of the vehicle mirror assembly 70 as a design surface.
In such vehicle mirror assembly 70, the retaining plate 78B is tilted with respect to the fixing portion 78A of the mirror surface adjustment unit 78 thereby adjusting a mirror surface angle of the mirror 80. Further, the rotating portion 74B is rotated with respect to the stand 74A of the retracting unit 74 so that the door mirror visor 82 is rotated together with the rotating portion 74B. In this way, the mirror 80 is retracted or extended.
When such vehicle mirror assembly 70 is assembled, the door mirror visor 82 is set as an assembling reference member. Then the door mirror visor 82 is disposed on a door mirror visor jig 84 and positioned with respect thereto. The fixing portion 78A of the mirror surface adjustment unit 78 is mounted to the bracket 76 to which the rotating portion 74B of the retracting unit 74 is fixed. Next, the bracket 76 is mounted to the interior of the door mirror visor 82 which is disposed on the door mirror visor jig 84. Thereafter, with the door mirror visor 82 being disposed on the door mirror visor jig 84, the mirror 80 is mounted to the retaining plate 78B of the mirror surface adjustment unit 78 and the door mirror stay 72 is mounted to the stand 74A of the retracting unit 74.
However, in such assembling method of the vehicle mirror assembly 70, as described above, since the door mirror visor 82 is disposed on the door mirror visor 82 and positioned with respect thereto, the door mirror visor jig 84 needs to be formed so as to coincide perfectly the shape or the size of the door mirror visor 82. That is, if the door mirror visor 82 having different shape or size is used, the door mirror visor jig 84 having different shape or size is correspondingly needed. As a result, there has been the problem that the door mirror visor jig 84 must be provided for each shape or size of the door mirror visor 82 (for each vehicle type) resulting in high cost.
As described above, with the door mirror visor 82 being disposed on the door mirror visor jig 84, not only the bracket 76 is mounted to the door mirror visor 82, but also the mirror 80 is mounted to the mirror surface adjustment unit 78 which is mounted to the bracket 76 and the door mirror stay 72 is mounted to the retracting unit 74 which is mounted to the bracket 76. Thus there are many possibilities that the door mirror visor 82 is scratched by the door mirror visor jig 84. There has also been the problem that as the door mirror visor is a component whose appearance is a design, if scratches are formed at the door mirror visor 82, the door mirror visor 82 becomes a defective resulting in inferior production efficiency.